


The Life and Times of Leo Lyman

by mavjade



Series: Descendents [2]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Diary/Journal, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Not entirely linear, OC centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-09-23 17:49:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9669524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mavjade/pseuds/mavjade
Summary: Leo Lyman is the child of Josh and Donna Lyman. He starts to keep a diary when he learns his father has PTSD and continues to write about his life as the child of some very powerful people.Glimpses of the lives of Josh, Donna, and many of the Bartlet gang through Leo's eyes. Starts in the far future then comes back to current near future. There will be time jumps, but they are pretty obvious.Major character death is mentioned in older Leo's parts as an event that happened in the past, no details as of yet. Will update warnings if that happens.





	1. Entry 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to He'll Know They Stood Up (It's Time to Consider Yourself). You don't have to read that to understand this, but it might give a bit more insight into the first two entries. They both are part of my own headcanon for the post-TWW future. 
> 
> This is for the Dear Diary Challenge on the JCF at boards.theforce.net. The challenge is to keep a diary for a character where you update at least twice a month for a year.

 

 

**January 20th, 2055**

 

Wow! I remember this diary quite well, though I haven’t seen it in many, many years.

My mother gave me this diary when I was ten years old. I had just learned that my father had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and I guess I was scared, something she probably knew.I think it was probably the first time I realized my dad wasn’t perfect. That’s always a lesson that is hard to learn, no matter how old you are.

Thinking back, I’m pretty sure I handled the situation pretty well for such a young boy. I didn’t freak out, I didn’t get angry, but I do remember being pretty quiet. Well, I remember my mom saying I was pretty quite.

 She came home from work one day and handed me this journal in a box. She’d told me it had always helped her to write down her feelings and that she felt like I could use it. There was no judgment about how I was reacting, only a means of working through it.

My mom, she was quite the lady. She still is.

Thinking about that day makes me amazed at how well my parents handled that situation. They explained PTSD in a way that a ten-year-old could understand, but didn’t talk down and didn’t downplay what could still happen. It makes me wonder if I would do as well with my own children if I had to explain such a hard subject to them. Thankfully, I haven’t. Yet.

 I wish my dad could be here today, I know he would be so proud of me. I always lived to make him proud. There was never a time where I felt he wasn’t proud of me, but today, I think, would be the top of it all. When he died, I promised myself I’d go for what I wanted with everything I had. I know that is what he wanted for me, it’s just convenient we both had interests in the same things.

 He never pushed me to politics, and I didn’t start there, but I found my way to it, on my own. The day I told him I was fed up with the way things in this country were going and I was going to do something about it, well let's just say I never saw him smile so brightly. He was so happy,I joked that it was only so he could live that life again, vicariously through me. But it made me glad that my decision brought him so much joy. He had dedicated his life to trying to make things better for other people, and I was happy to follow in his footsteps.

 So, here I am. Ready to start a new adventure. My family by my side, including my mom. She’s a young 81 years old and my biggest fan. She’s coming to live with us now, not because she needs us to look after her, but because she wants to spend more time with us, and the kids. I’m more than happy for the help, and to spend more time with her.

 Well, I guess it’s time, Dear Diary. I’m happy to have found you again. I’m hopeful that reading some of these entries will prove amusing and enlightening.

 

Yours always,

 Leo


	2. Entry 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A ten-year-old Leo starts his diary and tells us why his mother gave it to him. In the process, we get a glimpse of his family dynamic: siblings, his parents, and who he considers family. We also see how he's dealing with learning his dad has PTSD.

January 15th, 2020

Dear Diary,

Do I have to call you Diary? It’s not that I think it’s bad or anything, it just seems weird to call something I’m writing to? In? On? Diary. I feel like you need a name instead. I guess that’s kinda weird too, but at least it’s like writing a letter to someone and not just writing to a blank book. How about Daryl? It has most of the same letters. 

Dear Daryl,

I guess I should tell you about myself, huh? My name is Leo Lyman, I’m ten years old. I live in Washington D.C. with my mom and dad, and my younger brother and sister. My dad is Josh Lyman, yes, that Josh Lyman. He works for my Uncle Sam or I guess I should call him President Uncle Sam. 

Not many people call my Uncle Sam by his name, not even my dad who has known him forever. It’s always Mr. President. I guess I’m kinda lucky that way, Josie gets to call him dad, and I call him Uncle Sam. He’s not actually my uncle, I don’t have any actual aunts and uncles, but I have a lot of people we call family. Uncle Sam and Aunt Ansley are probably the closest to me. 

My mom used to work at the White House, but she doesn’t anymore. I guess Aunt Ainsley tried to get her to go back, but she wanted to spend more time with me, Noah and Abi. She does work for a group that helps soldiers when they’ve gotten into some trouble after they come home. It helps them to get the help they need instead of going to jail. It’s kinda a cool job!

My brother and sister are twins who are almost five years old. They are kinda cute and can be a lot of fun, but they also can be annoying. I guess that’s just the way with little kids. 

Well, I guess I should tell you why my mom gave me to write in. She said I could write down anything I wanted, but she gave it to me because of what I learned about dad. 

I’ve always known my dad had a thing about guns. He never liked movies with them in it, not that they’d let me watch much of them anyway. I learned from a kid at school when he asked if my dad was the one that was shot. It was a long time ago, back when Grandpa Jed was President. Grandpa Jed was also shot, but dad was shot in the chest and almost died. I read all about it online.

I’d seen his scar that runs all the way down the middle of his chest, but I guess I never really thought about it. To me he’s always had it, and you can’t see it unless you are pretty close to him. I guess I should have thought about it being a scar, but I just didn’t. It’s just a part of him and I didn’t think about it. 

I decided to see if I could help him get over his fear of guns, but I learned that it’s not just that he’s scared, he has something called PTSD. It means he can’t really control his reactions and sometimes gets really panicky about things. He gets nightmares that seem really real, I guess because they are memories and not just things from scary movies. He and mom promised it doesn’t happen very often and they know what to do when it does, but it still freaks me out a little. Okay, more than a little. 

Why did that happen to my dad? Why does it still happen if it happened so long ago? I asked mom and dad and they said they really didn’t have answers, it wasn’t something anyone could explain. I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Why has it been so long and no one really knows all that much. You’d think they’d know more by now. 

I don’t want my dad to have this happen to him even if it isn’t very often. I told him that maybe it would help if he told people, that it being such a big secret is making it worse. I don’t know if he’ll do it. He said he’d think about it, but he looked like he does when he says that and then that thing never happens. But I want to help and that was the only thing I could think of. 

I guess we’ll see. 

\- Leo


	3. Entry 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Young Leo reflects on a day that was both good and bad and learns that the world can be cruel. Older Leo remembers a poignant moment with his dad and uses that memory to help he write a Holocaust Remembrance Day statement.

_Entry 3:_

 

**February 2nd, 2020**

 

Dear Daryl,

 

Today was a great day and a sad day.

 In the morning it was just a normal school day, but in the afternoon it was a fun day. Well, it was mostly a fun day for the little kids, but some of us 5th graders got to help out, so it was still a fun day. It was Groundhog Day, which my school makes like it’s a major holiday. We dressed up for the kids, had a party and we learned about the weather. The local weather man came and told us about how he uses computers and math to try and tell us what the weather is going to be like, even though they aren't always right. He also told us the story of how the groundhog predicting the weather came to happen for Groundhog Day. Apparently, when the Germans first came to America, they brought the tradition of a hedgehog predicting if more winter was coming. They couldn’t find a hedgehog here, so they used what they could find, a groundhog. The story says he can predict if spring is going to come soon or if it will be a longer winter. It’s kinda a silly tradition, but it’s kinda fun too.

After school, I went to my dad’s office to hang out with him for awhile. It’s something I do sometimes if mom is busy and dad can’t get home earlier. I’ll tell you a secret, I actually love going there. It can be really exciting, and I get to hang out with my dad without the twins crawling all over him. Sometimes dad gets busy and I have to hang out with his assistant, Margret, but she’s pretty awesome. She kinda reminds me of a weird version of my mom, except she lets me eat more candy. 

But today, dad was sitting at his desk working on something, and I was on his couch finishing a book I had to read for school. We’re reading Anne Frank’s Diary, you know the girl who hid from the Nazi’s in World War 2. After I finished it I was upset, I guess my dad noticed because he looked up from his work and asked if I was okay.

  I guess I was, but I also didn’t really understand, so I asked dad how people could be so mean. He came over and sat beside me and picked up my book.

 “You know, I read this when I was your age,” he said. “And I remember feeling the same way. I was scared and confused. Being Jewish and reading how a girl around my age had to hide and was captured because they didn’t like that she was Jewish. It's a scary thing to think about.” 

 Dad told me how he talked with his grandpa about it. His grandpa was a captured by the Nazis but managed to survive. Dad told me how his grandpa told him it was okay to be confused and a little scared, but to focus on the good people. How there were people who helped Anne and her family. Dad told me that there were people that helped his grandpa too. That no matter what, there will always be good people, helping.

 When we got home, dad showed me pictures of him and my great-grandpa, and some of the few pictures his grandpa had of his family. He also showed me pictures of where his grandpa was held and promised he’d take me there one day like his dad took him.

 I’d like to go on a trip with just my dad. Not that I wouldn’t have fun with mom and the twins too, but it would be nice just the two of us.

 

-Leo

 

 

**January 27, 2055**

 

I remember this so vividly, as though it just happened last week. I can almost see my dad sitting in the office that sits right outside of mine now. I was laying on the couch and dad was reading some briefing book. What he was reading was probably important, but when he looked up and saw me upset, he set it down immediately. He walked over to the couch and sat beside me and talked to me for quite some time. Then he packed up his backpack with that briefing book, and we went home. 

 It was the first time I’d really ever learned about my great-grandpa Lyman. He’d been captured and taken to Birkenau, but his wife had managed to escape. She had been pregnant with my grandfather, someone else I never got to meet.

 It was a few years later, but my dad and I did make the trip to Oświęcim, Poland. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life. To know the horror that went on there, the people who were massacred. The thing I remember the most was how quiet it was. There were quite a few people there; some were crying, some just look stunned, but everyone was silent.

 My own kids are approaching the age where they’ll read Anne Frank’s Diary, and someday I hope to take them to Birkenau like my father did, and his father before him.

 It’s a family history that has to be told and never forgotten.

 Today I wrote a Holocaust Remembrance Day statement, and I thought about that moment with my dad in his office. My staff offered to write the statement for me, as is their job, but I refused. It was something I felt as though I had to do myself. I tried to recall that trip with my dad as much as I could, to channel the feelings I had, the feelings I know so many people whose families were brutally murdered. I promise that no matter how much time had passed we’d never forget and never let something like that happen again.

 I just pray I’ll be able to keep that promise.

 

-Leo

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Groundhog Day actually has several origin stories, but most revolve around Candlemas Day. I got the information I used HERE. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson048.shtml
> 
>  
> 
> I’ve never been to Birkenau, but I based the quiet off when I was at the Flight 93 memorial (The plane that crashed in PA from 9/11). I’d never been some place that was so crowded, and so silent. It was quite moving and years later I still think about it.


	4. Entry 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo talks about his best friend, Josie Seaborn, and we learn a bit about how Josie has been there for Leo in his life. We also get a small peak into older Leo's family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of major character death, but not in any detail, and mentioned as a past event in older Leo's part of the diary .  
> I've updated the tags to reflect this, as well as some other details.

_Entry 4:_

 

**February 23th, 2020**

 

Dear Daryl,

 

This weekend was a lot of fun. My best friend Josie got to come stay with us! Josie and I have known each other our whole lives, but we don’t get to see each as much anymore because Josie lives at the White House. Yes, she’s Uncle Sam and Aunt Ainsley’s daughter. Yes, I know, it’s weird that I have a girl best friend, but we’ve know each other forever.

But this weekend she got to come over and stay with us! She doesn’t really get to go to other people’s houses that much because she has to have Secret Service with her and that makes things a lot harder. But our house is perfect because my dad has a Secret Service agent with him at all times and our house had all sorts of upgrades before Uncle Sam became President.

It was kinda cool, they put in all new glass in the windows, I think it’s bulletproof, and put alarms on everything. I can’t open a window without telling someone, or an alarm will go off, and one of the Secret Service guys will come running in. Yeah, I did that once. Oops!

But thanks to all of that, Josie can stay with us, and it’s no big deal.

On Friday night, mom let us stay up really late and watch movies. We watched Star Wars because, well, that’s what we always watch when we’re together and the most recent one just was released on digital, and we wanted to watch it. Josie loves Star Wars too, but she likes the newest ones, when we were little she was always playing Rey. I like them too, but I really like the original ones even if they are kinda old. I like old movies, what can I say.

Then Saturday we spent the day helping my mom bake brownies and hung out with the twins. Josie doesn’t have any brothers and sisters, so she loves to babysit mine. She says they are cute, and I guess she’s right, they are pretty cute.I really love it when they start talking, and no one else knows what they are saying. Some people might say they are just baby talking, but they plan things together. One time they babbled for a bit, and then Abi stood on top of Noah and climbed over the baby gate. They do things like that all the time. I think it’s Abi that talks Noah into things because she’s always the one climbing or jumping and he just helps.

Josie left today and went back home. I hope we she can come over more often, I miss seeing her all the time, and it was fun having here for the weekend.

 

Leo

 

 

* * *

 

 

**February 28th, 2055**

 

This was so much fun to read and remember how Josie and I used to hang out together. We really had known each other and been together our whole lives.I guess that’s what comes when you parents are best friends who also work together most of their lives. You're destined to either hate each other or be best friends, and thankfully we went for the latter. I don’t know that I would have ever made it here without her.

It’s amusing to me that I wrote about watching Star Wars. We watched it so much I’m sure our parents could quote every movie without having to turn them on. Having kids who watch something over and over again, I now understand just how patient my parents were.

Josie and I are still the best of friends, and we’ve never been far apart. After college at separate schools, we both moved back to DC as soon as possible since it was home to us. She was my best women at my wedding, and I was her best man. We’ve tried to raise our kids in the same way we were raised, together. As a family. Though her kids are slightly older than mine and I don’t think they’ll have the same relationship we had. That’s okay, though, they’ll always have each other.

When my dad died, it was Josie who sat with me as I stared off into space completely check out from the world. I don’t know if it upset Marc that I’d respond to her and not to him, but he never said so if he was upset. He was amazing then, as he always is and I think I fell even more in love with him that day. That he allowed me to react and to not worry about anything else.

I know it should have been Marc I turned to, and I did, later, but in the immediate aftermath…  Josie knew my dad her whole life, and I know his passing upset her. She’s always thought of my mom and dad as her other parents; she even calls them Papa Josh and Momma Donna. When my dad died, I could see how upset she was, but she held it together so that I could fall apart. 

Anyway, while that’s something I could probably write so much more on, I have things I need to do today and can’t get lost in those memories.

Maybe tonight my family can sit down and watch Star Wars together. It will be nice to do something as a normal family for an evening. At least hopefully we won't be interrupted, that's never something I can promise. Especially the part where we’ll have to figure out which one to watch, that should be pretty normal. I can hear the fight already.

 

-Leo


	5. Entry 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the last day of grade school, Leo remembers the time he found out about his dad being shot and the teacher who was so kind to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll notice it goes from entry 4 to entry 6. When I posted for the official challenge, I'd separated the last entry into two. So in order to get back on the same track here, I skipped Entry 5. The last one was 4 and 5.  
> I apologize for getting behind posting here, I'm going to try and catch up soon.

**June 8th, 2020**

 

Dear Daryl,

 

Today was the last day of school! Yes!!

 

Don’t get me wrong, I actually like school, but I was ready for it to be over! Next year I get to go to middle school, so I was kinda sad leaving some of the teachers, especially Mrs. Tella. She made even the boring things, like math, seem a lot more fun. She’d find ways for it to be interesting which made it easier to learn. She was also the one that was there when I found out from another kid that my dad had been shot years ago. She was so nice, I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t been there.

 

We were doing a drill of what to do in case someone has a gun in the school, a shooter drill they call it. The teacher locks the door and closes the blind over the window in the door. We all go back to the corner of the room furthest away from the windows and doors, and they lay on the floor. We have to be really quiet, no one is supposed to be saying anything.

 

But this time, the kid laying beside me turned and looked at me and said it was because of my dad we had to do these types of drills. I didn’t know what he was talking about. A lot of kids parents work in the government at my school, so I didn’t know why my dad would be the reason. I mean, I know he’s pretty powerful, and people always want to talk to him when we are out. He says people suck up to him since he’s the closest person to the President (Uncle Sam) that people can easily get to. So I thought it was maybe something like that, but then the kid said, “My dad says that after your dad was shot the government decided to butt in and we have to do stupid things like this.”

 

“What are you talking about, my dad’s never been shot,” I said.

 

“That’s not what my dad said. I heard him telling someone that the “Lyman kid” was in my class. Then they started talking about him being shot.”

 

“Well that’s stupid,” I said. I couldn’t really think of a comeback. Ididn’t think my dad had ever been shot. I would have known, right?

 

So after the drill was over, and we managed not to get in trouble for talking during the drill, we had a computer class. So instead of working on the assignment I went to the internet and Googled “Josh Lyman” and “shot.”As soon as I started typing, so many headlines popped up:

 

**“President Bartlet and Deputy Chief of Staff shot in an assassination attempt.”**

**"Josh Lyman, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, reported in critical condition.”**

 

**"White House states that Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman remains in surgery after being shot at Newseum.”**

 

Headline after headline about my dad and Grampa Jed being shot and I knew nothing about it. No one had ever told me or talked about it when I was around. I was so shocked I must have missed that someone was talking to me, or I made a noise or something, I don't really remember. But I do remember Mrs. Tella coming and kneeling down beside me, putting her hand on my back which made me feel how hard I was breathing. I remember lying to her and telling her I already knew and begging her not to call my parents. She took me out into the hall and sat with me until I calmed down. Her voice was so soft, and when she gave me a hug, I felt like things would be okay.

 

I didn’t want mom and dad to know that I knew, so I just tried to put it out of my mind and pretended I didn’t know. But suddenly my dad having a big hate on for guns suddenly made a lot more sense, and I tried to not watch movies with them anymore.

 

So, yeah, anyway, Mrs. Tella is a teacher I’m going to miss. I’m also going to miss being one of the oldest kids at school. Now I’m going to be one of the youngest, and I’m not looking forward to that. But that’s okay, I’m still the oldest kid at home, and that won’t change. I kinda wish I was going to be in the same school with Noah and Abi when they start first grade so I can protect them.

 

I would hold their hands and take them to their classroom every day. They’ll probably have Mrs. Adams like I did, I wonder how she’ll feel about that. I can just hear her now, “Oh, no! Two more Lyman’s! What is the world coming to!’ I guess I gave her a bit of a hard time, I wouldn’t stop talking and telling stories no matter what was going on. Abi is a lot more talkative than I am, so I think Mrs. Adams is in for a lot of trouble. It’s making me laugh just thinking about it. Man, I wish I could be there to see it.

 

But I'm excited to get this summer started, it's going to be so much fun! We’re going to spend a week at the farm with Grandpa Jed and Gramma Abbey. I love being there, they have horses and a pond to swim in, and all sorts of land to play on. Gramma Abbey bakes cookies and tells me stories about my mom and dad. She tells the best stories.

 

More about all of that later!

 

~Leo


	6. Entry 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been terrible about updating this on here, if you were reading along, I'm quite sorry!

_Entry 7:_

 

**June 20, 2020**

 

Dear Daryl,

 

Today I went to hang out with dad at his office. I think I’ve told you before that I like hanging out there, though not all the time. Usually, I get to hang out with Josie for a bit when I’m there, but she and Aunt Ainsley were gone on a ‘girls trip.'

 

I was hanging out with dad he was telling me about the bill he was reading. I know, I know, it sounds really boring, and sometimes it is. Well, most of the time it is. But sometimes when dad explains it, I can see how it will help people and I like that. He says a lot of it is really boring, that he has to read a lot and most of what he reads is just words that mean nothing. But that once you get down to what the bill is doing, that it can be interesting.

 

Since my dad is the boss of everyone except Uncle Sam, he has people that can read things and tell him what they say, but dad says sometimes he likes to read things for himself, even if they are boring, they are important.

 

He tells me that about my homework too. He says that not just the exciting things are important, but sometimes the lame things can become interesting when you look at them the right way. Like the bills he has to read.

 

I guess I can see his point. I still don’t like math.

 

So anyway, I was sitting beside dad on the couch in his office while he was explaining to me what he was reading when there was a loud knock on his door and then Margret, his assistant, came in like she was in a big hurry.

 

“Josh, it’s happening,” she said.

 

I didn’t know what that meant, but dad jumped off the couch and said, “Leo, stay with Margret,” as he was walking over to Uncle Sam’s office. He opened the door without knocking, and I could hear him say,“Sir, we have to go to the sit room, now. It’s happening.”

 

They both left from there, and I had no idea what it was that was happening. But things seemed exciting all of a sudden. I could see people in the halls were talking really fast and walking really fast. I stayed with Margret, and she gave me candy out of her desk drawer.

 

I asked her what was going on and she said, “Grown up stuff.”

 

I get that from adults a lot. They don’t want to tell a kid if something is going on, but mom and dad will tell me… usually.

 

I stayed with Margret the rest of the day. She was really busy, but that was fine I had my iPad and could entertain myself. Later that day mom came with the twins to pick me up. Margret told mom that she shouldn’t wait up. I guess dad is going to be there for a bit.

 

He still isn’t home yet.

 

I asked mom what was going on and she said she wasn’t quite sure but I shouldn't worry about it. I wasn't worried until she said that.

 

Well, I’ll tell you more later.

 

~Leo

 

 

**June 21, 2020**

 

Hey Daryl,

 

I just wanted to add an update that dad finally came home this morning. He walked in the door when we were eating breakfast. He looked really, really tired. His tie was off, his shirt was unbuttoned and mostly untucked, and his hair was everywhere. But other than being tired, he seemed normal.

 

He gave mom a kiss, then kissed Abi and Noah on the head. He then came over to me and said he was sorry for ruining our day together and asked if he could make it up to me soon.

 

I know my dad has an important job and that he sometimes has to leave at weird times or be gone for a while. Does it make me sad when he can’t do something I want him to do? Yeah. Have I gotten mad in the past? Yep. But even I could tell this was something big. I told him I’d love to hang out with him in his office again and he smiled. He kissed me on the head and then went to bed.

 

A little while later Abi and Noah climbed into the bed with him to take a nap. It was kinda cute. Mom asked if I wanted to join them (she asked while she was taking a picture of them with her phone)but I think I’ll leave the nap taking to the little kids and the grownups.

 

I still don't know what happened or why dad was gone all night. I wonder if I'll ever know.

 

I’m going to go start packing to go to Grandpa Jed and Gramma Abby’s.

 

~Leo


	7. Entry 8

_Entry 8_

 

**June 15th, 2055**

  
  
Wow, I was such a nerd when I was little. Now that I’ve had to read all of those bills, I’m amazed I was as interested in it as it appears I was. 

  
  
Okay, who am I kidding, I’m still a nerd. Marc reminds me of this almost daily, and now he has the kids doing it too. 

  
  
“Ugh, Dad, you are such a nerd!” they’ll say when I get excited about something like getting to declare a new National Park, something I’m happy to say I did recently. It’s okay, I’m used to the Marc and the kids picking on me, it keeps me grounded. I’m honestly just glad the kids have adapted to living under a microscope so well. I’ve made it my personal mission that all of this will affect them as little as possible. 

  
  
Of course having people in dark suits and ear pieces following you to school means things will change in your life, but I don’t want them to feel like having servants, and a chef is a regular life. They still have to clean up after themselves, they help cook dinner and clean it up. Do we take advantage of having a chef sometimes? You bet! There has to be some personal benefit to this job, but it’s not an everyday thing. 

  
  
Josie has been a huge help in that regard. I grew up knowing of that life and being exposed to it, but she lived it for 8 years. She’s been amazing in helping Marc and I explaining and adapting our kids lives. She knows what they are going through and is available to them, or us, anytime. I don’t know that I could ever repay her for how much she does for my family. Oh, and she’s a big nerd too, so my poor kids are just surrounded by it. 

  
  
My dad used to say my being a nerd was Grandpa Jed’s influence. I think he always underestimated how much of a nerd he was as well. I mean, even after he retired (more than once), he was very involved in politics. People were calling for his advice and counsel as long as I can remember. 

  
  
Not a day goes by I don’t wish I could do the same. 

  
  
Right now, I wish I could ask him what that situation was that had him running to the sit room that time. After reading it, I remember that day, even though I hadn’t thought about it in a long time, if ever. It obviously was something that didn’t result in a publicly known event, which is usually the goal when there is some major world event. If you don’t have to tell the world, then you probably averted a crisis. I can imagine it was one country moving against another, or someone was making a threat against the US. I could probably look it up, but the people in the archives might wonder why I’m asking about a particular event from so long ago that had no significant impact. 

  
If anyone ever reads this, I think that is going to be quite a disappointment. (While I hope it will stay private, I realize that it’s possible anything I say, do, or write will become public at some point.) First, a big exciting part that I wrote all those years ago, and then nothing. Sorry! But that gives you a look into life in the federal government: huge exciting moments that turn into nothing, or it can also be never-ending tedium followed by sheer panic. 

  
  
Right now it’s thankfully at the tedium stage, so I’m going to tell my assistant that I’m taking an early day and I’m going to surprise Marc with an afternoon just to ourselves. Marc had to give up so much for me to follow my dreams and I never want to take that, or him for granted.

  
  
Maybe I'll see if mom can do something with the kids and then we can have the whole night. I'll make his favorite dinner, and we can watch a movie in the theater. It's hard to have a date night when you can't really go anywhere without a huge entourage. Thankfully, we both were pretty much homebodies before this because now we don't have much of a choice. 

  
  
\- Leo


	8. Entry 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've not been able to keep up with the two entries a month for a year of the challenge, but it's still going. This is as far as I've posted on TF.N but there will be more.

_Entry 9_

 

**June 27, 2020**

 

Dear Daryl,

 

Finally, we’re here at the farm with Grandpa Jed and Gramma Abbey! There for a bit, I wasn’t so sure we were going to come. I went to the White House with dad the other day, and he left the door from his office to Uncle Sam’s office open, and I could hear them talking.

 

“If I get to take a vacation, Josh, you get to take a vacation.” Uncle Sam said.

 

“Mr. President…”

 

“No, Josh. You aren’t as young as you were, you’ve got to take a break at least now and then. Don’t make me make it an order. You have a deputy for a reason. She’s good, rely on her.”

 

I didn’t really hear what happened next, but we got here, so I’m guessing Uncle Sam finally talked dad into it. Or he made it an order. Who knows with my dad.

 

We arrived at Grandpa Jed and Gramma Abbey’s farm house this afternoon. They sent one of the secret service guys to pick us up at the airport, apparently, it makes too much of a fuss when they go. Since Grandpa Jed gets Secret Service protection for the rest of his life, Jack, the main guy that follows dad around got to take the week off. He told me he was taking his girlfriend away for a vacation and he was going to ask her to marry him.

 

I hope she says yes because Jack is awesome! I’ll tell you about him some other time.

 

Anyway, when we got to the farm, mom got the twins out of their car seat, and they went running toward the porch were Gramma met them half way. I was excited too, but I’m almost 11, so I didn’t want to seem [i]that[/i] excited. Grandpa Jed stayed on the porch in his chair, he can’t always walk that well, but he smiled and then laughed really loudly when the twins left Gramma Abbey’s side and jumped on him.

 

Gramma Abbey hugged mom, and then dad. After she had hugged dad, she pulled back and looked at him, her hands on the side of his face. “You look tired,” she said.

 

“I’m fine, Abbey,” Dad answered with a sigh. He never likes it when people tell him that. I could see mom nodding her head like she agreed with Gramma.

 

“When was your last stress test?”

 

“A month ago,” Dad answered. “Can we not talk about this with little ears around?”

 

I started to argue that my ears weren’t little, but then she quickly agreed and pulled me into a big hug. Gramma Abbey gives the best hugs.

 

She promised that we were going to have a great week of fun and relaxing. When she said relaxing she gave dad a look like he had done something bad. I couldn’t help but laugh because dad looked like he was in trouble.

 

We got up onto the porch, and I gave Grandpa Jed a hug. “Young Mister Leo,” he said. “I have been waiting to watch that new Star Wars movie so that you can explain it to me.”

 

I don’t think he [i]really[/i] needs me to explain it to him because I know he's really smart, but I do it anyway. That’s something we always do together, watch movies. Like I said, he can’t always get around all that well, but we’ve sat and watched movies together as long as I can remember. Sometimes he shows me an old movie, and sometimes I show him a movie. It’s our thing.

 

I told him I was excited to watch it with him, and then Gramma said she had lunch ready and told us to come inside to eat. Mom wrangled the twins inside, and dad sat down beside Grandpa Jed. I didn’t mean to listen in, but I couldn’t help it.

 

“How’s it going, Josh? You taking care of Sam?” Grandpa asked.

 

“Things are going well Mister President, and I do my best. He learned his job from some stubborn guy, and that habit rears its head every now and then.”

 

“Josh…”Grandpa warned. This was something they argued about every time we visit. Dad insisted on calling Grandpa Jed ‘Mister President’ like he does Uncle Sam, but Grandpa Jed doesn’t like it. He always says he spent years having everyone call him that and that he’ll be damned if his family was going to call him Mister President.

 

“Things are fine, Jed.”

 

“That’s better, was that so hard?”

 

“Yes, actually, it is. Even after all these years, it almost pains me.”

 

“Well too bad,” Grandpa answered with a laugh. “I outrank you, so you have to do as I say.”

 

Dad laughed too. “Yes, well, you wonder why we still call you that.”

 

They started to come into the house, so I ran into the kitchen. I didn’t want to get caught listening. But I can’t help it, I love to listen to dad and Grandpa talk.

 

We didn’t do much for the rest of the day. Mom and dad went to bed early. Mom insisted that Dad was going to get some rest while we were there and Gramma backed her up. It was kinda funny to watch Gramma tell dad what he was going to do and watch dad give in.

 

Nobody tells Gramma no, at least not for long.

 

Tomorrow should be fun, Gramma has already promised to tell me some stories, and Grandpa and I will watch the movie.

 

~Leo

 

 


End file.
